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Emergency podcast: Sounders finalize details on Jesus Ferreira trade
6k Plays4 days ago
With news that the Sounders have finalized the details of their trade with FC Dallas to acquire Jesus Ferreira dropping today, Jeremiah and Mark spun up a quick 30-minute podcast to discuss everything we know. They address the reality that this might not quite be what fans had in mind this offseason, but it undeniably makes the Sounders better on paper than they were last year. Beyond that, time will tell.
Nos Audietis is the flagship podcast for Sounder at Heart, which became a reader-supported website on Aug. 21. You can support us by becoming a paid subscriber, learn more: https://www.sounderatheart.com/about/
You can also support the show by checking out our line of merch including every past YachtCon design and our latest skull-and-crossbones logo.
“Diversions” audio provided by Sounder at Heart subscriber Lars; find more of their music: https://despatchesfromseattle.com/
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Transcript
Introduction to Fullpool Wines and Nos Arietes Sponsorship
00:00:02
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Fullpool Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Fullpool was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounders supporters. They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
Will Bruin's Podcast on Jesus Ferreira's Potential Move
00:00:25
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. now i get to do voice reads for the sounder at heart podcast network
00:00:40
Speaker
about sell <unk> it
00:01:21
Speaker
we all got of sudden go
00:01:30
Speaker
since sounder hard commentary that you didn't take lo seriously
00:01:41
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of NOS Adietes, sponsored by Fullpool Wines. I am Jeremiah Shan. This is a bit of an emergency podcast. I guess we weren't planning in the sense that we weren't planning to do this when I woke up this morning on New Year's Eve day.
00:01:56
Speaker
And I'm joined by Mark Kastner, who I recruited to do this because I figured, Hey, Mark, we haven't talked to you in a while. How's it going? Good. I was standing in line on Walgreens when you texted me. So I was having a great time. Why were you standing and standing? at And were you getting a flu shot or something?
00:02:13
Speaker
No, I was picking up a prescription. just Oh, right okay. Fair enough. Yeah, we don't need to. That's that's a fair, that's a fair point. ah you ah Standing in line at a Walgreens, I, I will, may I call for this? Not that people care, but I was, I slept in till about eight o'clock today, casually got out of bed, had a, had a meeting with, uh, I had a meeting unrelated to the sounders.
00:02:41
Speaker
didn't really get online until about 10 o'clock and I start scrolling my feed and I'm like, oh, it looks like there may have been some Jesus Ferreira news. And it's like, oh oh, not only has there been news, there's big news and it's three hours old and I have been ignoring it all this time. And then I played some catch up and here we are though, in case you missed it,
00:03:03
Speaker
It looks like it's not official, but all the details have been finalized and we are at the point now where the Jesus for a deal is basically just waiting his signature on a contract and waiting the league to sign off their approval.
Sounders' Acquisition of Jesus Ferreira: Initial Reactions
00:03:18
Speaker
And I guess I'll just open with this mark. What was your initial reaction to this news?
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think the initial reaction today or the initial reaction like three weeks ago. I mean, what's your what's your reaction to the sounder's acquisition of Ferreira? Yeah, I think he's a really good player. I think.
00:03:39
Speaker
um The Sounders kind of entered this off season with, let's say, maybe with self-imposed constraints about how to improve their roster. And I think within those constraints, there is probably not a better acquisition. So for instance, a couple of weeks ago, inner Miami got $3.2 million.
00:04:06
Speaker
in-game for Leo Campana, who I think is not as good of a player as Jesus Ferreira, but they are certainly comparable in age and sort of status. Campana seems sort of hell-bent on leaving MLS as quickly as possible. Jesus Ferreira just signed seemingly long-term extension with the team, so that there's at least this theory that he's comfortable staying here for a while and kind of contributing to the Sounders for a long time. So I think he is really good. I think he's coming off of a down year. He was injured. I know people have sort of fears about that because last season the Sounders signed a really good player who was coming off an injury and was injured for basically an entire season. So I get i get the
Strategic Player Moves: Ferreira vs. Campana
00:04:56
Speaker
concerns. I get the
00:04:59
Speaker
um
00:05:01
Speaker
let's say sort of like you open up a Christmas present and it isn't necessarily the PlayStation 2 you wanted, but it is like something cool. um I get that sort of like feeling of disappointment, but man, I think that this deal is so good on kind of like a nuts and bolts level for making the Sounders better um going into next season.
00:05:27
Speaker
Right. And I think that that's a that's I think the initial prism I want to view this through is the immediate like take all the external stuff about what we expected to happen, what we hoped would. Huh?
00:05:42
Speaker
I said, yeah, all of that's sort of like a different conversation. Right. and And we'll, and we'll, we'll touch on that today too, but let's, I want to focus right now on sort of this, the immediate part of this, which is if you, if you take out your expectations, if you take out the, you know, ah you strip away all the externalities of this and you just focus on the sounders just made a trade for the most prolific young goal scorer in MLS history, a player who is, uh, just literally the other day turned 24 years old.
00:06:14
Speaker
who already has 53 goals in MLS play, 34 assists. He started a World Cup game for the United States, a knockout game at that for the United States. ah He is, he already has an 18 goal season under his belt, admittedly coming off a down year last year, five goals and in six assists, but that's a down in about less than 1400 minutes. Not even really a bad season, but not a, not a great season, admittedly.
00:06:43
Speaker
And he's added to the team without really having to break the
Impact of Jesus Ferreira's Signing: A Comparison with Raul Rui Diaz
00:06:47
Speaker
bank. ah they they give On paper, they gave up $2 million dollars in Gamm, an international roster spot, and Leo Chu, which I suppose if you wanted to stretch the definitions of these things, you could kind of come up with $3 million dollars in assets that they gave up, which is also still less than what Miami got for a Leo Campana.
00:07:10
Speaker
ah But day you know when you actually break it down to what they gave up, they're giving up a million in GAM this year, which is a fair amount of money, but not not an outrageous amount of money. And then 500,000 in GAM each of the next two years. An international roster spot, which they they still have an open one. They can open up another one if they wanted to.
00:07:33
Speaker
and And then Leochu, who very clearly was not in their plans, like at best case, I think most people thought that Leochu was a player that was, you know, like the best case scenario was that they transferred him to somewhere in Brazil for like a million dollars. And that's not, yeah that's not scam. That would have been just cash that goes into the bank, which who knows if they're going to be able to spend it. So they got, you know, they got actual assets in exchange for,
00:08:01
Speaker
for them. I mean, this feels like a really good move that makes them immediately better. I mean, essentially, if you look at at Ferrera as a as a one for one swap for a 34 year old Raul Rui Diaz. I mean, that's not not hard to like. Yeah, I think um He's like exactly the type of player I wanted the Sounders to go after in this offseason. And I think he provides...
00:08:34
Speaker
like tactical flexibility, which I know Brian Spencer said is something that like he really kind of wanted in this off season. And I think how the pieces fit together in know like a must win game, playoff game, final type of thing remains to be seen, but we have a long time ah for in into one of those. So, so um and you know, thank the stars that there's a really good coach on the sound of sideline to kind of figure all that out. um And much better problems to have than the the problems he was trying to solve, let's say last season and should be said successfully solved. um And I just kind of think like,
00:09:20
Speaker
If you're trying to add a 24-year-old who, like you mentioned, has scored 18 goals in a single season, has consistently performed really well on a mediocre team um at and at sort of MLS level, like let's say Jesus Ferreira,
00:09:38
Speaker
was coming out of Columbia at the same age, same level of production, same injury history. Let's even kind of throw that caveat in there. You're looking at a player that would cost probably between seven to 10, like million actual dollars.
00:09:54
Speaker
And they they acquired him for $2 million, dollars which is just a literally just a number on a spreadsheet. There's like not actual money transferring from bank accounts here. yeah um And I know sounders fans inevitably are going to say like, well, that's because their ownership is cheap, whatever, go have those conversations. I'm just not super interested in like,
00:10:16
Speaker
transfer fees. I want the Sounders to be better and the Sounders are better today or whenever the steel is finalized than they were when they faced the team that eventually won an MLS Cup a couple
Sounders' Strategy and Ambition: Are the Moves Enough?
00:10:29
Speaker
of months ago.
00:10:29
Speaker
so yeah and i and i don't yeah I don't think it's unfair to be frustrated that the sound that this move seems to indicate that the sounders... Or it does... like I think at this point, I'm comfortable saying the sounders are not going to make a huge DP signing anytime soon. They probably aren't going to make a big DP signing this year. ah My expectation is that it's going to be Jordan... we At the same time, we also found out that Albert Rusnak's contract has basically been signed. ah That's going to be for two years. He's going to be a DP.
00:11:02
Speaker
It looks like Jordan Morris is going to be a DP. And, and then you have Pedro de la Vega, who is a DP for, I think at least two more seasons. And, you know, you add that all up and it's like, okay, I get it. I'm frustrated too. I would have loved to brought in a big splashy player who would have you know show showed ambition, whatever that is. and i And I'm actually getting really sick of having the discussion of what ambition even is because it does feel like you can get lost in the weeds. So I'm going to slap myself on the wrist and and pretend I didn't say that. But I understand the frustration that people have, that you're not raised you're not shooting to burst through the ceiling of your capabilities if you are looking mostly within the league. And frankly,
00:11:48
Speaker
I will say i'm I'm sympathetic to the idea that this feels vaguely like a move that the Colorado Rapids might make, which is to say that it's a smart move and that it's a prudent move, but it's not necessarily a splashy move. But you know i I do think that to your point, if you were to tell me that the Sounders signed a 24-year-old with 53 first division goals from Austria,
00:12:18
Speaker
ah which is probably a league lower in quality than MLS. ah I think most people would be thrilled with it and they wouldn't be hung up on whether, especially one who started for their for their national team at a World Cup in the round of 16. I mean, on paper, I think you'd strip the names out. Jesus Ferreira is a home run signing. And by the way, they're signing him to an extension that makes him not a DP, which effect, which maybe doesn't make a difference in terms of you're not at it doesn't allow you to add another DP, but it does allow you to have a bunch of players on your roster that are supposed to be a DP quality. ah You know, Pedro de la Vega, big caveat there, we'll see if that comes true. But
00:13:03
Speaker
It feels like a very prudent move.
Ferreira vs. Campana: Defensive Contributions
00:13:08
Speaker
and And I'll say that the thing that really differentiates this from a Colorado Rapids being able to make this, there's no way the Rapids are able to sign literally Jesus Ferreira on a non-DP deal because there's no way that Jesus Ferreira is moving from Dallas to Colorado without getting paid. And in this case, he's apparently willing to take a pretty big pay cut.
00:13:29
Speaker
Yeah, I think your point about it feeling like a Colorado Rapids move is true. And I also think the point about it would not literally be a Colorado Rapids move because he wouldn't go there for this level.
00:13:44
Speaker
ready um money. But what I think it feels like, I think it feels like a feel honestly, it feels a little bit more like an LFC move um in sort of a vacuum. So like you remember when the LFC traded for Kellen Acosta almost in very, very, very similar circumstances. um And right. Sure, Kellen Acosta ended up not necessarily being very good.
00:14:11
Speaker
in the long run and he's actually on the Colorado Rapids now, right? Kalan Koss is actually on Chicago Fire now. Anyways, that's way too. Not your point. it feels like a team It feels like the type of move that LAFC would make to so really elevate the floor that that team can experience and In that sense, I think this it it does the exact same thing for the sounders. I think the sounders get a lot better with this move and the bottom doesn't necessarily drop out as low because of this move.
00:14:54
Speaker
in the long run. um And what i what I mean by that is I think both Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris played at a DP level last year. So they sort of like deserve the contracts that they're getting. I think um sort of yeah the heights that they hit and the ability that they played at over the course of, let's say, the 10 months that the MLS season is,
00:15:17
Speaker
They are DP quality players. They're not Dennis Belonga, but nobody is. Dennis Belonga is Dennis Belonga. They're very, very good DPs for MLS, and o and they proof they proved like this the Sounders reached basically two semifinals last year with those players.
00:15:37
Speaker
What Jesus Ferreira does is he he helps leave some gas in the tank for Albert Rusnak and Jordan Morris over the course of, let's say, 2024 and makes them better players in the long run because you you now have a like a tactically flexible attack where you basically last year, because of the constraints of the roster and the performances of the players on it,
00:16:03
Speaker
If you weren't starting Albert Rusnak or Jordan Morris, you were significantly hindered. And now I think you can rotate a lot more, you can change your formation a lot more, and you can keep Jordan Morris and Albert Rusnak fresher for longer and hopefully being able to perform better. Because by the end of that LA Galaxy game, if you were to pause it right after l LA scored,
00:16:28
Speaker
I think everybody in the world thought you could play this game for three more hours and the Sounders were just not going to score a goal because they had nothing left in the tank, you know? And so I think they're an elite, we maybe one of the best ever defensive teams that this league has seen.
Tactical Flexibility with Jesus Ferreira
00:16:45
Speaker
That's the platform they can build on. You add an attacker that could go on to be the kind of and MLS record goal scoring holder. if If, you know, he kind of stays here, let's say for 10 more years.
00:17:00
Speaker
And that's like really, that's just a really good move, but setting aside kind of all the noise that ah a lot of sounders fans like to listen to, including this podcast. Thank you for listening to the SoundRite Heart Podcast Network, which now includes No Sunny at This, Lobbing Scorchers, and The Cooler Guild.
00:17:22
Speaker
We've been independent since August of 2023, but need your support to make sure it continues. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible by your continued support. Memberships start as low as $25 a year, which not only helps make podcasts like this one happen, but also gets you access to everything we produce.
00:17:40
Speaker
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00:18:05
Speaker
no i i i I realized we had kind of moved beyond this, but I wanted to share something anyway, because I i i spent some time looking this up. And this podcast is nothing if not ah my ability to humor myself. But i I was kind of fascinated by this comparison between Campania and Ferreira. And you know yeah they conveniently both have been in MLS since 2022, which ah works out very neatly. But they are very close to the same age, Campania is a ah ah few months older. But if you if you compare their MLS performances since 2022, so twenty you have 22, 23, and 24 in this sample set, ah they are there non penalty XG plus
00:18:55
Speaker
expected assists are it exactly the same per 90 at 0.53 and their actual production meaning goals plus assists minus penalties is 0.64 for Campania and 0.66 for ah for for ferrera ah And then, so there are basically the same type of goal contributions ah per 90 minutes over that period, over a three-year period. ah If you go into shot creating actions, it starts to get... far more ah skewed towards Ferreira. He's averaging 3.88 shot creating actions per 90, which is almost ah virtually twice as much as Campana. Their goal creating actions a little bit closer. ah It's 0.42 for Campana, 0.46 for Ferreira. And then if you go into the defensive actions, it's not really all that close either, ah where Ferreira is much more active defensively. I'm not going to get into the details there. But but my point is is that
00:19:59
Speaker
The sounders, I think what's sort of silly about this discussion is that if the sounders had literally made the exact same move for Campania, They would have probably had to use a DP spot. ah They would have had to give up apparently a little bit more in assets in order to acquire them. And somehow I think fans would be much more excited about it. yeah and And I think there's something, I think it's like really, I think there is sort of like the US national team discourse. And I don't know, I don't want to, I feel like we're we're maybe giving too much ah
00:20:32
Speaker
too much leverage in this discussion to the fans who have kind of come out frustrated about this deal. I would imagine there's probably a lot more fans who are really excited about it. But um I do think it's important to just ah acknowledge some of these nuances. Yeah, I mean, I've like. Kapanya is. Literally not American, which I do think plays into it.
00:20:59
Speaker
um I don't know. i don't I don't know. I don't know how to like really kind of square that round hole ah to be honest with you. So it's probably better. I mean, I know we could stop talking yeah i mean, I don't know. I don't know either. And and I guess maybe it's it's pointless, but I guess it I just think it's.
00:21:19
Speaker
I guess what I'm saying here is it's it's okay to be really excited about the Ferrero deal. It's also okay to be frustrated that it might be the biggest move that they make just because we had set our expectations so high. But this, I think, undeniably makes the Sounders better in the short term. It makes them potentially a lot better in the long. This is a 24-year-old player who, if he performs at the level that we would expect, he's gonna be either around for a long time and being making and making a run at the MLS scoring record, or he's gonna be moving to a bigger, he'll be moving on to a bigger league. i I mean, I think the best case scenario is probably that he spends the next two years just bawling out, and then they move him on and in two years, and they they get a payday from him. Yeah, there's that possibility. There's also, I don't necessarily think the Sounders rosters as
00:22:14
Speaker
inflexible in terms of movement, as some kind of think, you know, I think people kind of initial reaction is, Oh my God, we're gonna have the same these same three dps until 2027. And right, I just, there's not like,
00:22:33
Speaker
Nothing is that set in stone in major league soccer and it's really easy move off of a player. Like I think if by this, let's say this summer, Pedro de la Vegas still isn't really kind of like.
00:22:45
Speaker
hit hitting level right i think there's a And I don't think the sounders are ever this aggressive, which I think is, again, just a different conversation.
Maximizing Player Potential for Upcoming Season
00:22:55
Speaker
But they could they could set they could move him back to Argentina at probably a significant loss, but open up a possibility. and Right. Yeah. and there's always there's always There's always ways to open up roster spots, especially when you're talking about a relatively young player who, if he's healthy, ah is not too far removed from being productive in Argentina. There's teams out there who would be probably willing to take him off your hands. Or there's always literally the Colorado Rams.
00:23:27
Speaker
but i am or or literally but one One thing that I think is like super interesting about this move that I haven't necessarily seen in the zeitgeist yet, ah is the fact that they move on from Leo Chiu, thus ah opening up a U22 slot. and yeah Yeah, that's a good point. I think that if that slot is filled this offseason with, let's say, a fullback or a young central defender or something like that, I think it's totally fine for somebody to kind of look as look at this as like a two-for-one situation. And that might necessarily, that might, in my opinion, be more exciting than just one big DP. Because we got we got one big DP last season as kind of the only thing to happen.
00:24:20
Speaker
um yeah And that was what that was. So um I'm sort of interested in seeing if that slot is used now or sort of later, um but yeah.
00:24:39
Speaker
Well, and I think the other thing that's interesting about the the Leo Chu aspect of this is I had sort of assumed that Danny Leyva would be the play. Like I knew I was pretty sure a player was going to be moving to Dallas and I sort of just looking at the roster, drive I assumed Danny Leyva would be the the player who made most sense. He feels sort of like the type of player Dallas would want. He has some potential sell on if you can build him up.
00:25:05
Speaker
But losing him would have been kind of a, frankly, it would have been a bummer. I liked Danny Leyva. I think he was really showing his usefulness towards the end of last year. I think he has still some upside, some real upside to him and that they were able to make this deal, which I don't know. i I would imagine the Sounders basically said, Hey, you can have one of these two guys and we're probably fine with it being Leo Chu, which You know, for better or for worse, Chu just was not making inroads with Brian Schmetzer in terms of getting on the field. Like, I do think Chu is a good player who has some upside, but he also did not progress at all like how we thought he would. You know, he had a great 2023, but even in 2023, he
00:25:53
Speaker
His effectiveness really waned badly during the second half of the season. And and he was just i he was looking like a limited player for better or for worse. you know I wouldn't be shocked if he has a good he if he stays at Dallas and he and he's good next year.
00:26:10
Speaker
But I don't think that was what was going to happen to him here. I mean, at this point, he was probably the, I don't know, fifth winger on the roster. ah He had clearly fallen behind Georgi Minungu and Paul Rothrock. And then you on top, and they're not even probably starters this year. you you I would imagine you're going to have probably Jordan Morris playing out on the wing. You're going to have Pedro de la Vega, obviously, getting a lot of minutes on the wing.
00:26:36
Speaker
You might have other players that that are sneaking in there. So Chuu did not have a clear path with the sounders at this point. And so to move off of him... in a way that you know maybe preserves a player like Danny Leyva, who even if he's not a ah likely starter, he's a useful player coming off the bench for you. He can play a few different positions. ah i I like that part of it. And like you said, the it also opens up the roster spot of a U22, which I don't think they were really up too much up against it in terms of ah
00:27:13
Speaker
of like they could have opened up if they really wanted to sign you 22 players that wouldn't have been that hard to do it but now it's really odd I mean he was that's a $500,000 player ah only hitting the cap at 200,000 but you you can definitely do something with that roster spot and even if they don't make a big u22 signing before the season starts, I would expect in the in this winder in this ah winter transfer window that they they will be making some overtures about filling it. I don't know what they'll do with it. But you know it it could be a center back. It could be a defensive midfielder. It could be another offensive player. It could really be anything because they don't have a super obvious need. And really, you don't use the U-22 spot on a on ah on a need anyway. You use it as sort of an upside play. Yeah.
00:28:02
Speaker
and i think um
00:28:06
Speaker
Are you so I guess not to put you on the spot, but are you under the assumption that sure, let's say a move like the Paul Ariel one still does happen that doesn't involve any players. So, Danny, this I don't think I think that I don't know what would be going. I mean, that's a good point. I don't I don't know. ah I actually don't know what they are potentially giving up in the Ariola trade. I did not get the sense that it was a lot.
00:28:35
Speaker
I think that this is sort of being seen as a way for Dallas to get out from Ariola's contract, which he was on like $1.7 million, dollars which is a fantastical amount of money. But ah yeah, Ariola.
00:28:52
Speaker
I think it probably still gets done. I don't know. what I honestly don't know what they're giving up in that trade. I suppose it's possible that they end up losing Leyva too. But I kind of, I think that more likely it's, ah it might be like a draft pick, honestly. Like they might be just giving up their next year's first round draft pick for Oriola. I legitimately say that. And again, that's another player who probably would have been ahead of Chu on the depth chart. In multiple positions.
00:29:21
Speaker
Um, yeah, I mean, I right in multiple exactly. I think that there's like one glaring weakness on this team right now. And it's what happens at kind of a left wing back, um, spot. So that's where I would like to see a U 22 player slot in with the understanding that, uh, with the understanding that that may or may not be the preferred.
00:29:51
Speaker
formation next year, but um I just, if you're going to play that way with the players that the Sounders have, I don't really want that player to be Reed Baker Whiting, because he's just not left footed. He's fine with his left foot, but he specifically, I just don't think he's a very good crosser with his left foot. And I think you want more of kind of like a, let's say a Brad Smith type in that role.
00:30:20
Speaker
um which would be nice to have on this roster. Also, just having kind of that type of player to develop as an MLS fullback um would be really good for this roster, I think.
Team Formation and Strategic Challenges for Sounders
00:30:39
Speaker
yeah i mean and I would say sort of to that point, the big question for me is still, what's the default formation for this? I think we will almost surely see a lot of two forward sets, which to me means we'll probably see a lot of three, five, two.
00:30:58
Speaker
But I don't know, I don't know if that's going to be the default formation. And I think part of that is because we don't have an obvious left back or left wing back option. It also doesn't really leave an obvious starting spot for Pedro de la Vega, who I think could maybe play as a wing back. But I don't, I have a hard time imagining the Sounders entering the season sort of as with de la Vega's default position being wing back. So I i think that for for all of the change, we might still see a form, like we might see, I wouldn't be shocked if Jordan Morris is playing as a, as a left winger in this formation. And we see, you know, Pedro de Ovega on the right.
00:31:41
Speaker
New Who starting at left back again, Alex Radon again starting at right back, maybe with Reed Baker Whiting as at you know ah challenging him for that for those minutes. and Otherwise, the team looking, frankly, not too dissimilar than what they looked like for the tail end of last year. and i don't i and i Again, like i if you had asked me ah this time last year, do I think the the lineup Do I think we're going to, or not at this time last year, but you know, at midpoint last year, if you had asked me, do I think we're going to see basically the same, a very similar team next year? I would have said no. I would have definitely expected more change than we're going to end up getting. But that doesn't mean that this, that part of that is also that they had a bunch of players who sort of earned their chance to come back next year. You know, Albert Rusnak being,
00:32:33
Speaker
high on that list. you know he He looked really, really good for the second half of the season, if not more. ah Same thing with Jordan Morris and can kind of go down the list. There weren't a lot of players. I do think that the to me, the one position I'm most concerned about probably is production from right back, from fullbacks really, from both fullbacks.
00:32:52
Speaker
I think they only got one or maybe two goals and two assists complete across all competitions from New Who and Alex Roldan, which just you you you need more production from your full backs than the Sounders got last year. There's just no way really around. Yeah, especially if you're playing kind of predominantly a ah formation that where your where your width is coming from your full backs like they did last season because, you know, you would have
00:33:23
Speaker
a healthy pay Pedro de la Vega kind of going wherever he wanted to. So you you do need a play like either on the left or the right, a player holding that sort of width. And if the if the assumption is Jordan Morris is going to slot back to that left midfield position, um that is going to play a lot. I would i would just be super surprised um to not see sort of like pass maps where he's not the highest player in that formation. So yeah, even if he's playing as a leader saying basically if he's playing as a left winger, he's going to be a second forward. Yeah, or or just like it's going to look like he's the forward but just on the left side of the field.
00:34:09
Speaker
like where he, write yeah which is not just funny because he played striker last year for most of the year, had really good production. But if you kind of do look at things like game to game passing maps or heat maps of particular players, he favors that side of the field anyways. um And he would he would sort of abandon kind of Let's say where traditionally the center backs play and just kind of like float out to that area anyways to get involved so I don't hate it as much as let's say some and I you know, we've done this whole podcast and basically I referred to the lowest common denominator throughout several talking points, so I don't mean to do it again, but
00:34:55
Speaker
i think I really kind of like what this move does in terms of like the fluidness between, let's say, the attacking band behind the forward and the forward. um Because you have you have four guys, let's say, that really do sort of like to go find their pocket of space on the field.
00:35:19
Speaker
um And that can do some like really interesting things for the safters, I think. yeah If they're all great. I think that's probably it.
00:35:33
Speaker
Yeah, ah well, that's probably a good place to sort of wrap this up. ah Mark, thanks for for jumping on this and and doing this sort of emergency podcast that that we did today. I wanted to say thank you, of course, to Lick It for producing it on an emergency basis as well. ah Thanks to Full Pull Wines. I'm going to get out of here. Probably won't do another podcast until we have news, a little bit more news.
00:35:59
Speaker
ah this so You know, we'll see you when we see you, but, uh, I'm Jeremiah Shan. This is no study at this. And remember, you'll never get alone.
00:36:44
Speaker
We love you. Let's win another one!